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Writer's pictureTom Emanuel

ALLELUIA... This Week at UCCW


Image: Jesus Meets Mary (mosaic), National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

“I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.” --Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl


alleluia

she hadn't managed

to keep solid food

down

since the last meal

they shared,


and so it was

dehydrated and

faint w/fear

that she came

to the Tomb, awaiting

the reek

of despair and rotting,

unsure

if she would be able

to withstand it,

knowing only

that she had to Know.


only weeks before

she had seen

her brother

emerge,

beyond Hope,

from out the miasma

of Ending,

but this was different.


she had known how

to love Lazarus,

w/all the fierceness,

the childish loyalty

of siblings.

but she had never quite

figured out

how to love Him.


and so it was dizzy

and faint

w/insecurity that she

came

to the Tomb

and, kneeling,

looked inside

and He was not there.

a second wounding.


it was a gardener

who found her after,

huddled

in the cold wet warmth

of aching

and the Garden

on the third day.

it was the gardener, only

a Gardener,

who Recognized her.

with tenderness

unlooked-for

he spoke her name

aloud:

Mary.


her Name

on a stranger's lips:

my Child long-hoped-for.


it was then,

and only then,

she first learned

how to love Him: no

trumpets. no lilies. just

dewfall, and tears,

and Rising

in unexpected places.


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Poem © 2017 by Tom Emanuel


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QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK: When have you experienced “rising in unexpected places”? How can we keep our eyes and hearts open to beauty that surprises us “despite everything”?

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